This invention arose out of a need to simplify and make less expensive the making of an article of furniture, such as a chair, wherein upholstery is to be stretched over a body supporting frame and an arm attached to the chair. Heretofore, the body supporting frame has consisted of a contoured shell, usually a molded thermoplastic shell having a desired contour. The shell had a channel along the peripheral edge thereof and received structure in the channel for tightly holding the upholstery to the frame. U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,743 discloses this general type of chair construction. One of the problems encountered in manufacturing the thermoplastic frame is that the width dimension of the channel adjacent the outer end thereof had to be narrower than the bottom dimension in order to receive and hold a compressible welt cordlike member therein. The relaxed dimension of the compressible welt cord has a dimension which is at least greater than the restricted dimension at the outer end of the channel. As a result, the welt cord must be compressed in order to permit it to enter into the channel. During the manufacture of the frame having the aforesaid type of channel therein, complicated molding requirements were necessitated in order to effect a molding of the channel and causing it to have a width dimension at the outer region thereof less than the width dimension at the bottom end. Accordingly, Applicant desires to provide a simpler and less expensive way of making the body supporting frame having a channel therein comply with the desired dimensional characteristics.
Heretofore, an arm member for furniture had a bracket secured thereto, which bracket had an extension member extending through an opening in the upholstery to a position adjacent the frame. The extension member had an internally threaded hole therethrough and received the threaded portion of a screw therein. The screw was received in a hole in the bottom of the aforesaid channel, however, a problem arose in aligning the internally threaded hole in the extension member on the bracket with the hole in the bottom wall of the channel because both are, at this time of the assembly, covered by the upholstery. If a plurality of brackets were provided on the arm, strict dimensional tolerances had to be maintained in order to effect a simultaneous alignment of all of the holes in the various extension members with the holes already molded into the frame. If the holes were not molded into the frame, a problem arose in enlarging the hole in the frame or shifting the hole in the extension member so that alignment would be achieved.
Accordingly, a need has arisen to satisfy this particular problem in an expeditious and inexpensive manner.
Accordingly, the objects of this invention include:
1. To provide a channel in a body supporting frame having a characteristic wherein the width dimension adjacent the outer end of the channel is less than the width dimension adjacent the bottom of the channel without necessitating complicated and expensive molding techniques in order to achieve the dimensional requirements.
2. To provide a connection for an appendage to an article of furniture, such as an arm, wherein the connection can be simply obtained without any problems of alignment with the means for effecting a securement of the appendage to the article of furniture.
It is further an object of the invention to provide a connection for both securing the upholstery to the body supporting frame, as well as securing the appendage to the body supporting frame, which is durable and will not become loose through prolonged usage of the article of furniture.